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This invention relates to a method and apparatus for tracking, analyzing and teaching correct golf club movements that can instantaneously react to video images of golf swings for the purposes of guiding the club, analyzing the swing and predicting the ball flight.
A golf swing requires the synchronized actions of more than 80 different muscles in a way that is not particularly intuitive or consistent with the human framework. Focusing on the totality of these various muscle movements surpasses the ability of the conscious mind. This requirement for complex and unnatural muscle movements is the principle reason why golf is considered to be a difficult game to master. Even if one is successful in correctly emulating the precise body movements of a given professional, it is unclear that the club movements that are actually produced are correct for a particular person given his or her physical differences.
Correct movement of the golf club is the main objective of a golf swing. If the club moves correctly then learning the associated body movements becomes a far easier goal. There are as many swing styles as there are body sizes and shapes, even among professionals, but the objective of each is to move the club in a very similar way.
Training tools exist that focus on body movements during the golf swing, but none describes or teaches correct club movement in terms of geometric position of the golf club, club head rotation and three dimensional shaft direction at every point of the golf swing. And none performs computer image recognition of the golf club and body position to guide the club movements, analyze the swing and predict the ball flight.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,159,016 compares video recordings of the body motions of a student to that of an instructor or professional. But these recordings lack interactivity because it is only after the student has completed the exercise that he or she can view comparisons. The computers involved receive and display images but do not recognize or analyze club or body movements. That task is left to the student and/or his or her instructor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,449 allows a student to swing a club within a body template image of a chosen professional instructor. The computer receives and displays images but does not recognize the student""s actual club or body movements, leaving the entire burden of swing analysis to the student and his or her instructor. Because the golf swing analyzer has no awareness of what the student is actually doing once the template is set in motion, there can be no responsive interaction between the student and the device. No effort is made by the above cited patent to systematically describe correct body position as a function of correct golf club movement. This invention can neither analyze a golfer""s swing nor predict his or her ball flight.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,449 also requires the student to synchronize his or her activities to the timing provided by the pre-recorded template. The student cannot test or exercise his or her club movements swinging freely back and forth using variable timing.
In the above noted patent there is an uncertain task in deciding which professional""s templates to use. Then attempting to emulate the complex body movements executed by that professional can be very difficult and perhaps of no particular advantage in achieving the club and body movements that are correct for the student, given the physical differences between the student and the professional such as differences in anatomy, physiology, flexibility, and strength.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,668 teaches the effects of club movement by allowing the student to observe a light that shines in both directions along the club shaft generated by a device attached to the golf club shaft. This method does not help the student to know if the geometric location of the club is correct at any point. This method fails to detect very common problems, such as that of the golfer bending his forward arm during the back swing producing a swing whose arc is too narrow yet able to satisfy criteria indicating that the swing is correct.
With nothing other than a light beam to communicate to the student, the above cited patent lacks the effectiveness and accuracy of image analysis and video presentation. It suffers from not being able to review the analysis of a given swing many times at different speeds. This invention becomes the least effective during the forward swing before impact while the club is making its most rapid movement. During this time the student must interpret the light signals and switch his or her view from the light pointing toward the grip end of the club to that pointing toward the head of the club. This invention is unusable outdoors under bright sunlight and physical adjustments are necessary to the platform that reflects the beam of light when using clubs of different lengths.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,449 discloses a method for simulating a golfer""s swing by a two step process that first collects data about a golfer""s club and body movements and then feeds the data to a commercially available mechanical simulation package. In the second step, an android computer model attempts to reproduce the golfer""s swing for the primary purpose of determining what kinds of clubs are best suited to that golfer. This method is not interactive with the golfer and does not teach or include a pattern of an ideal golf swing as is explained below.
Prior inventions have used video recordings of the golf swings of various professional golfers for comparison to a student as though they were magic formulas. In fact, many professionals owe their success more to extensive practice than to excellent techniques. Since golf tournaments can be seen on national television every weekend, most of the techniques that amateur golfers would like to learn have become common knowledge and are practiced by most professionals. What is needed is a systematic and effective way to learn and practice these well-known club and body movements. These techniques can be interactively taught by a software program that is capable of running on most personal computers equipped with an inexpensive video camera such as a USB web cam.
Thus a need exists for an easy to use and inexpensive training system that allows a student to focus precisely on club position and club movement with real-time interactive assistance. When the computer has recognized and analyzed the nature of a particular golf swing problem and its solution, then the presentation to the student is more effective using computer generated graphics and audio methods. Since the computer""s recognition software can correlate the club position with the position of the student""s body parts, a more focused and systematic approach can be taken by the student to learn to swing correctly. Receiving a quantitative rating based upon the quality of the swing movements and viewing the predicted ball flight makes learning and practicing more enjoyable.
A further need exists for analysis while practicing back and forth swings with no predetermined timing. The student should be able to spontaneously perform a sequence of swings without prior planning or setup. For a proficient and experienced golfer, this capability provides effective audio and video feedback during warm-up exercises.
A still further need exists to effectively analyze the correctness of a golf swing at all points of a golf swing because any incorrect variations can have undesirable consequences. Since normal swing motions occur at a high rate of speed, a student or instructor finds it very difficult to analyze a golf swing in real-time. Previous inventions do not have the benefit of the computer instantaneously recognizing, analyzing, understanding and responding to the motion of the student""s golf club. When evaluating the geometric coordinates and angles of a golf club in motion, an experienced professional instructor cannot compete with a computer program that has efficient recognition software.
The present invention provides a golf swing training method and apparatus that measure a student""s swing against a semi-circular back swing orbit that is followed by a circular forward swing orbit. The locations within these orbits serve as reference points for the computer to recognize the correct club movements and body positions that comprise the ideal golf swing.
The derivation of these orbits is based upon analysis of a multiple of swings of many professional golfers. The above noted multiple of swings were superimposed over each other in a synchronized slow motion process that revealed a pattern of an ideal swing that is common to substantially all professional golfers. The pattern showed a semi-circular orbit for the golfer""s hands during the back swing and a separate circular orbit for the golfer""s hands during the forward swing. These orbits were easily extendable to an area of the club shaft near the golfer""s hands. The choice of the location of the club shaft near the golfer""s hands as a reference point was also valuable to keep the orbits as small as possible so the video camera""s recognition capabilities are optimized by having the golfer as close to the camera as possible.
The orbits are automatically determined while the golfer assumes his or her normal stance by considering the height and other physical characteristics of the golfer. They are further verified by several calibrating movements described below. The orbital locations form a basis for evaluating club shaft direction, clubface rotation and overall body position during a golf swing.
A spherical attachment is placed on the shaft below the golf club grip. The sphere is tracked in real time by a software program that receives video camera images, The software program continuously monitors the position of the spherical attachment to determine if the sphere is in a correct orbital location within the swing orbits. Patterns on the spherical attachment are analyzed by the computer recognition software to determine the rotation of the club shaft that corresponds to the position of the clubface at a given orbit location.
Polar direction identifiers located above and below the sphere. These facilitate efficient recognition of the direction of the club shaft at a given orbit location and further verify rotation of the clubface.
A conventional personal computer control interface such as a mouse or keyboard is used to select the analysis activities, options and displays to be used. The student can use a separate monitor for each display or use multiple windows of a monitor capable of displaying combinations of views simultaneously.
Each analysis activity asks the student to assume his or her normal stance position in front of the video camera and then to make body adjustments until the stance is deemed satisfactory by the computer recognition software. If the student has already calibrated his or her orbits, then the back swing and forward swing orbits are superimposed over the real-time image of the student golfer.
One display shows the student""s image and swing orbits plus the correct club shaft direction and clubface rotation at various intervals along the orbital path.
Another display shows a blow-up of the region of the spherical attachment to precisely view the student""s actual club position at that moment and the relation to the display of the correct club position with respect to orbital location, club shaft direction and club head rotation.
One analysis activity allows the student to swing freely while viewing his or her image in real-time within the display of the orbits with the club position guide shown at the next orbital path checkpoint. Audio and visual responses or prompts are given to his or her movements. This activity allows partial or complete swings and permits the student to swing back and forth as many times as he or she desires. The speed of the swing is not measured. Typically, a student chooses to swing in slow motion until a certain level of success is realized. Optionally, the display can freeze the frame at the occurrence of the first erroneous movement.
Another analysis activity requires that the student perform one complete golf swing that is followed by a detailed analysis of the swing at each sequential orbital location. Body movement errors are identified at each orbital location and illustrated suggestions for corrections are offered. Tempo of the swing is evaluated. A USGA handicap rating is assigned to the swing that was determined statistically by a correlation of golfer""s actual handicaps versus their level of correctness of swing. Instant replay of the swing can be done at regular speed or in slow motion.
Another analysis activity predicts the ball flight and distance based upon the real-time analysis of the swing leading to the ball impact position. When this activity is selected, the display switches to an illustrated view of a practice range upon impact and the golfer can see his ball in flight as it travels toward the green. A detailed analysis can be viewed subsequently for the same swing.
An object and advantage is to provide a golf swing analysis and training method that recognizes the club position through the images generated by a video camera to measure and guide club movement at all points of the golf swing. Since a computer program is doing all of the analysis, a professional instructor is not required to be part of the process.
Another object and advantage is to provide a swing analysis and training method that is simple for the student to execute allowing him or her to focus upon guided movements of the club instead of concentrating on coordinating many unnatural body muscle movements simultaneously.
Another object and advantage is to provide a swing analysis and training method that quantifies correct club position by geometric location and uses this location as a basis to determine correct club shaft direction, clubface rotation and body position.
Another object and advantage is to automatically calculate the correct swing orbits for the student based upon his or her physical characteristics and a few calibration movements.
Another object and advantage is to allow the student to customize his or her swing orbits if the standard orbits do not work such as if he or she has physical limitations.
Another object and advantage is to display and measure the precision and correctness of the golf club movements while the student swings freely through orbits superimposed over the live video image of the student using his or her own timing.
Another object and advantage is to display and measure the precision of the golf club position and movement during a golf swing using a zoomed blown-up view of the current orbital focal point showing the orbit outline, the actual club position and the correct club position.
Another object and advantage is to display a computer generated image of the correct body position of the student relative to the current orbital location.
Another object and advantage is to evaluate the timing of a complete golf swing.
Another object and advantage is to quantify a complete golf swing with a USGA handicap rating based upon correctness of the club movement to show progress to the student and to make training fun.
Another object and advantage is to predict ball flight, such as a hook or slice, based on club head rotation before and after impact with the golf ball.
Another object and advantage is to allow the student to perform instant replay of any analyzed swing.
Another object and advantage is to be able to use the golf swing analyzer indoors or outdoors.
Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.